Sine Faciem
by AkaiArsony
Summary: Thrown into an unknown world and time, devoid of memories and a purpose, Minato Arisato begins his journey as a new trump card in the futuristic world of battle maidens, underworld terrorists, and lots and lots of females. Yep, life wasn't done screwing around with him.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own IS nor do I own Persona 3. All rights go to their respective owners and creators.

* * *

He didn't know where he was.

He didn't know when it was.

Cold rain pelted him on his back, running down his skin and flowing onto the hard pavement he laid upon. Nausea registered in his system, and his sore body felt like lead weight. He tried moving the fingers on his right hand, and all that they touched was cold steel; apparently, the feeling of it was far too familiar to the boy.

Flashes of fragmented memories were all the boy could see when he tried to recall something to mind, accompanied by an unwelcome migraine that left him wanting to hurl. He'd see a tower of green. He'd see masked creatures. He'd see people whose names felt like they were on the tip of his tongue, but would escape his grasp.

And finally, he'd see himself point a gun to his head with a maniacal smile.

He could not piece them together, sadly. The puzzle he saw in his head was messier than any he'd ever seen, and a lot of the pieces were gone as well—what remained in his mind was a mess of images that made no sense to him.

Just then, the lad took notice of the cool, metallic feeling in his right hand. He raised it in front of him, and beheld the gun his fingers gripped.

He turned it a number of times, feeling that this was something very important but he did not know why at the moment. It was as if he had been using this for quite some time now, but why? Was he murderer? Was this a gift, and simply a model gun?

It made his head hurt—thinking, that is.

Saving the questions for later, he staggered as he hoisted himself up, and found that he was in some sort of uniform: a white shirt with a red ribbon under a dark colored coat with matching slacks, and a red armband on his left, marked with 'SEES'. Nothing came to mind as he mulled over what had looked like an acronym of sorts. Shaking his head, he made his way out of a dim alley, and walked shakily out onto the streets.

* * *

"Man, it sure is pouring a lot out today. And I was looking forward to lunch, too."

Ichika Orimura sighed as he looked out the window of the cafeteria. It was supposed to be another fine, sunny day where he'd be seated out on the roof with Houki, Cecilia, Charl, Rin, and Laura eating lunch together. Unfortunately, the weather had decided to give them a complete 180 and mess with their earlier engagement.

"It can't be helped, right? It's not as if we could change the weather or something," Rin quipped. "Besides, eating lunch is the same wherever—it's not like it's different when we you eat it anywhere else."

"But you know, how do I put this? I've kinda grown attached to the roof. It's really nice there!" Ichika laughed.

Houki gave the boy a questioning look. "Then, are you some kind of spirit with attachments there? Maybe I should have the place exorcised."

Ichika sighed. "Are you still mad about that hairstyle thing earlier? C'mon. You know I just answered in the heat of the moment—the girls were pestering me!"

Needless to say, the earlier antics when the girls were interrogating Ichika about his hairstyle preferences did not end well when he phrased his words wrongly about ponytails, which had then promted Houki to materialize part of her IS, lift her desk, and hurl it towards the said boy.

"Well, Ichika really was having trouble earlier, so why not let it slide, Houki?" Cecilia asked.

"Yeah, that's right! He's just being a blockhead as usual," Charl chuckled, eyeing the lad.

"C'mon, whose side are you on?!" Ichika groaned. It was a nice thought that they'd try and help salvage the ship, but it wasn't fun if they _completely_ ignored the captain riding on it!

The girl gave the lad a "hmph!" and chose to ignore him, earning a sweatdrop from Ichika. Sighing for the umpteenth time and just choosing to let the matter go for now, he began to dig into his shio ramen, before it got any colder.

And before he could savor the hearty meal and the warmth it brings on a cold, rainy day, a quake shook the cafeteria and rocked its denizens. The sound of crashing plates and glass accompanied the shrieks of shock from all around.

"Was that an explosion just now?!" Laura shouted. Smoke billowed from somewhere on campus, completely visible from the window in the cafeteria. As Ichika and company looked onward, they spotted a lone, black figure floating above the smoke.

It looked like some sort of humanoid with a plain blue helmet covering its head, etched with the Roman numeral one on it. Black, thorny armor covered its shoulders, forearms, and legs, and wing-like projections stuck out of its back—resembling swords more than thin wings. The gauntlet covering its left arm resembled a big claw, with each finger ending in a sharp tip. Red outlines glowed all over its armor, and it ominously stayed where it was like it was waiting for something.

From its looks alone, there was no doubt that it was an IS unit.

Alarms blared all over the cafeteria, with the monitors popping up with messages prompting everyone to return to the designated safe rooms and waiting for further instructions. Chifuyu's voice then blared from the speakers.

"To the following IS Representative Candidates: Orimura, Shinonono, Alcott, Huang, Dunois, and Bodewig, proceed to the docking bay for instructions. I'm giving you ten minutes. To the rest of the students, move orderly towards the containment rooms and wait for further instructions from the staff. Move it!" Wasting no time, Ichika and company rushed out of the cafeteria and made a beeline for the docking bay near the arena.

_This doesn't bode well, _Ichika thought to himself.

* * *

The flow of people dizzied him.

The multitudes of individuals weaving through the streets further contributed to the lad's nausea, and he could do no less than ignore it together with the churning of his stomach, ready to spill bile from a moment's notice. He staggered through the crowd, getting pushed and bumping into complete strangers who gave him annoyed or indifferent looks.

He couldn't really care.

Though he knew that he was not himself at the moment, he could do no more than go elsewhere from this place. But where the hell would he go? Everything was unfamiliar—he had never been here before. Suddenly, the sound of an explosion of sorts attracted his ears, and as he turned, he saw smoke billow from some area forward, located at some kind of higher point in the vicinity. And as he looked on the place from where the sound originated, his senses were gripped and a singular objective manifested within his mind.

_I need to get there._

Once more: he did not know where he was.

He did not know when it was.

But right now, he had a task ahead of him much more important than anything else. And there was nothing that was going to stop him from it.

He pulled out his gun, and spun it twice in his right hand.

"Whoa, the guy's got a gun!"

"Is he a terrorist?! Someone get the cops or something!"

He did not point it towards anyone, and moved it closer to him.

"Oi, you there! Drop the gun, and come with us!" shouted an officer from his side.

He ignored the man, and pressed the cold muzzle onto his temple.

"H-hey! What do you think you're doing?!"

"Is he gonna blow his brains out?!"

"Oh god, he's gonna shoot himself!"

He released a breath, closed his eyes, and focused. His index finger coiled around the trigger, slowly, slowly pulling it back.

_Do it._

The sound of a round being fired echoed in the streets soaked with rain, and as it was bathed in a bright light, the whole crowd shielded their eyes from the searing glow emitted from where the "suicidal" lad was.

Once the light was gone, the people in the area looked on and suddenly, hung their jaws in utter shock.

The place where the boy stood was now a crater, with black lines connecting to one another into a web of cracks on the street. And the boy in question?

Needless to say, he was gone.

* * *

"So, what's the situation? Is it Phantom Task?"

Ichika hurriedly asked Chifuyu, who was now carefully observing the mysterious black IS displayed on the monitor in front of them. Yamada was furiously pressing keys along the keyboard of the computer, trying to gauge the stats of the possible enemy in front of them.

Chifuyu answered; her tone quite grim. "It hasn't been confirmed. Also, Yamada is having trouble getting any data on it as of the moment, and that's making this a very dangerous situation."

Yamada nodded in agreement. "Right now, the best that we can do is maintaining a distance and continue to observe it. Everyone, please keep clear 250 meters away from the target, and make no moves on it. We do not know of its capabilities nor its reasons for its appearance, so we are at a slight disadvantage."

"Did you contact my sister about this?" Houki asked, stepping forward. Chifuyu turned to her, and replied with a shake of her head. "Tabane does not recognize the model. She isn't even sure what company or country had it made, and that worries us. It's an enigma—we can't toy around in this situation. Alright, go to the bay and deploy your IS units. We'll have you split in teams of two for easy support—Orimura and Bodewig, Shinonono and Dunois, and then Alcott and Huang. Is this understood?"

""""""Yes, ma'am!""""""

"Good, now go. Remember, be cautious—we have no idea what we're dealing with."

Reaching the launch area, the group then deployed their respective IS units and dispersed according to their groupings from Chifuyu's instructions. Minutes later, they had safely secured a perimeter around the mysterious IS unit.

It had already been 20 minutes since the arrival of the black IS, yet it had done nothing but hover over the area where an explosion it most likely had caused occurred.

". . ."

". . . ? What is it my bride? Is something wrong?"

Shaken out of his thoughts, Ichika faced Laura. "Well, I don't know why, but it feels like it doesn't really care about anything else in here. It's almost as if—"

"—it was waiting for something or someone, right?"

Ichika nodded over to Rin's voice on his intercom's display. "Yeah. But I really can't say for sure."

"It's a possibility, so we might as well consider it, since we really have bearings on the situation whatsoever," Charl concluded.

"Hey, it's moving!" Houki exclaimed.

The black IS was beginning a slow descent to the ground, blowing away the smoke that had gathered around the area. It landed on the ground, just in front of the Academy's gate. Ichika and the rest agreed that it would be safe to move closer, but still just outside the black IS's field of vision.

What then surprised the team was the presence of another individual in front of the black IS; and male, from the looks of it. He had blue hair, and sported a uniform of sorts. The blue-haired visitor staggered towards the black IS, seemingly injured or disoriented from the looks of it.

"You can't be serious, a civilian at a time like this . . .!" Yamada spoke from the intercom, tensing up from the situation. "This is bad! We need to get that person out of—hey, wait, Orimura!"

Much to everyone's surprise, Ichika was already rushing towards the black IS—no, his trajectory showed that he was actually going for the lad who had appeared almost out of nowhere.

"Dammit, go faster, Byakushiki!"

As if the mechanized armor he wore understood his will, Ichika felt his thrusters pour more power out and push him faster and faster.

"Tch, that idiot! Alcott, Bodewig! Get ready with long range attacks to distract the black IS when Byakushiki gets in range! Huang, Shinonono, Dunois! Pursue and prepare possible support!" Chifuyu barked into the intercom, clearly pissed at her younger brother's in-the-heat-of-the-moment decision.

The girls all nodded, and prepared their arsenal of weapons. Houki, Charl, and Rin all flew towards Ichika's direction, while Laura and Cecilia both chose to move behind a distance from the threat.

Just as Ichika neared the blue-haired boy, he saw the red lines on the black IS glowing brightly, and suddenly multiple, black, slender mechanical arms appeared from all over its body and grabbed the multiple sword-like projections from behind it. The arms pulled back, and then prompted to swing at the boy.

_Shit, I won't make it at this rate!_

Ichika gritted his teeth in annoyance, and willed his IS to push forth even more. Byakushiki sputtered for a second, as if telling him that this was all that it could manage for the time being, and that there was simply no more adding to its current speed.

As the swords neared the lad, Ichika cursed under his breath. He then saw the stranger pull out something from a holster of sorts.

"Hey, you! Whoever you are, get out of there!"

Dust flew all around when the swords finally hit the spot where the boy stood. Ichika paused, furious that he was not able to make it in time.

"Dammit, just what is happening?!"

Suddenly, the company felt a heavy wave of shield energy blow out from nowhere, pushing them back and clearing all of the dust.

What happened next left everyone astonished.

The lad was still standing on the same spot since it had appeared, completely unharmed from the assault of the black IS.

"Y-you've got to be kidding . . ." Rin trailed off.

Laura was wide-eyed with surprise. "Am I . . . seeing this right?"

The swords swung by the multiple arms of the black IS were stopped dead by a single broadsword.

And that broadsword was held by the blue-haired lad, with a large, silver gauntlet enveloping his right arm.

Yamada stumbled in her words, but managed to confirm what had occurred.

"That boy . . . just partially deployed an . . . IS unit."

* * *

He could feel it.

Whatever it was that was front of him, which had just swung multiple blades at him, was considerably familiar.

And yet, its nature escaped his understanding again once the answer began rising out of his mind, only to disappear once more and leave him hanging.

_No._

_Right now, I do not need an explanation._

Armor began to appear all over him, covering his arms with silver gauntlets; his legs with slender greaves that ended in talon-like feet; red armor on his torso, shoulders, back, and abdomen; and a huge, golden harp from behind, with individual triangular machine bits that floated around it.

_Right now, my body is moving on autopilot._

Holographic displays appeared in front of him, displaying various statistics and colored bars. A window appeared, and an image of the black IS appeared on it, with a label underneath it:

The Magician.

_Right now I only have one mission._

Energy burst forth from the lad, sending sonic booms all around him. He moved his eyes slightly, and surveyed the six other presences that had appeared in this place.

Breathing in for a moment, the lad's eyes oozed unyielding focus to a battle about to begin, and he steeled himself, preparing a battle stance of sorts.

He ignored the stares.

He ignored the confusion and nausea that continued swirling around his head.

He had but one task at hand. He looked over to the black IS, and eyed it with hostility and killing intent.

"I . . . will end you."

* * *

**So, how'd I do?**

**My first attempt at a crossover. Not sure if I'm gonna continue this, however. I just wanted to get this out of my head to be honest, after having imagined it while listening to One OK Rock's NO SCARED. Haha.**

**Well, tell me if you like it-I might just continue this. Thanks for reading, I suppose. :)**


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own IS nor do I own Persona 3. All rights go to their respective owners and creators.

* * *

"Hah!"

With a singular swipe of his sword, the blue-haired boy clad in mechanized armor sent the black IS, the Magician, flying off a distance away and crashing into a three-storey building. The opponent staggered in mid-air, leaving the spot it had hit with a crater filled with a tangle of crevasses.

After having blocked his opponent's earlier multi-bladed assault, he pushed back the blades with a mighty push and moved in for a slash aimed towards the Magician's torso.

Wasting no time, he chased after his target; rushing at extreme speeds.

"—Crescendo."

The name came into his mind, popping almost out of nowhere. The broadsword then dematerialized from his right hand, and was replaced by a cinquedea for each hand. As he continued dashing forward, the blue-haired boy spun; first hitting opponent with the sword on his left and then with the right.

He continued to push the Magician back, relentlessly attacking with slash after slash. As he pushed on with his speedy assault left and right, he could feel the barrier surrounding the black clad opponent gradually getting weaker, as his strikes began closing in nearer and nearer the foe's body.

Nothing in the fragments of his memory clued him on any kind of battle experience. But for some reason, he felt that everything was innate—the angles from which he would strike, the parts that he aimed for, the movements and the reflexes. The handling of whatever weapons he possessed now and system of operation he had to perform were all flowing into him.

It was as if he were a machine long pre-programmed with these attributes.

An arm branched out from behind the Magician, and with it was one of its blades. The arm kept extending to no end, and then arced to score a hit from behind the lad.

Sparks flew as the blue-haired lad spun to parry the attack and deflect it back, and with his momentum he continued to spin and land two continuous slashes towards the enemy, sending it crashing down the lower levels of the building.

"Vibrato. Tremolo."

Names flashed across his mind once more. The blades in his hand vanished, and what had appeared next were two oversized revolvers—the one on the right resembled a Remington single action 1875, dyed in scarlet and ash; on the left was what looked like a Webley-Fosbery automatic revolver, adopting a sleek look with its lush hunter green and charcoal color scheme.

Information flowed into his mind once more, and the lad received instruction on the operation and capabilities of his armaments. Data flowed into the windows that popped out into his field of vision, displaying the distance, possible enemy positions, and the number of shots doable with his guns.

He didn't have time wonder where the information came from.

"—Al Niente."

Squeezing the triggers, the lad sent a barrage of six energy blasts towards the Magician, not wanting to miss the opportunity for continuous attack. Explosions rang from the blast, enveloping the area further in a mix of smoke, rainwater, and dust as the entire façade of the area he had shot at crumbled into a rubble of concrete and steel.

In one of the displayed windows, he spotted a meter of sorts with a number displayed below it. The meter shifted to the left, and the number dropped from 800 to 440.

His attention was then grabbed by the sound of rubble being quickly pushed away, and his sights focused on the black IS that was now speeding up towards him; blades drawn and ready.

"Sforzando!"

With the command, the guns disappeared in a flash of light and in turn were replaced by the broadsword in his right hand; the similar blade he had first used earlier. The blue-haired boy then shot forward, sending back a sonic boom as his thrusters burst with energy and propelled him towards the Magician.

* * *

_Unreal._

That was all that ran inside the mind of Ichika Orimura as he watched the battle that unfolded in front of him.

The shock of another male deploying an IS had been overcome by the sight of the boy in question perform extreme maneuvers in the air. A chill ran up his spine when he saw the lad use blades, two at that, in order to drive his opponent into a corner and overpower the black IS. His movements as he continuously assailed the enemy were fluid and precise with no room for unnecessary actions that could potentially waste much needed physical energy.

". . . This is unbelievable. It's almost like he has been piloting an IS for quite some time now . . ." Cecilia mused. "And his movements—savage, but also majestic on the field of battle."

Houki agreed with the pilot of Blue Tears. "His swordsmanship has no distinct style, but it is clearly effective and efficient enough to decimate an opponent."

"To compensate for the reach of those shortswords, he used his speed to his advantage and land blow after blow. Still, to possess such great mobility in an IS . . . this is just beyond me," Charl commented.

Ichika could agree no less with their words. Instead of viewing it as a fight, it was turning out as a one-sided mauling, with the mysterious male IS pilot gaining the upper hand against the enigmatic threat.

"Instructor, what are your orders?" Laura asked Chifuyu through the intercom.

"Contain their fight within this area. It's not advisable for them to cause any more damage with the structures of the Academy. The moment one of them falls, go in and capture the remaining of the two. Strategies will then be made during then, so right now all we can do is collect data regarding these two unknown ISes."

"What do we have so far?" Rin asked. Two windows then appeared before each of the six Representative Candidates, displaying a rough image of the two ISes with data regarding both. "These are only predicted statistics and specs regarding those two—it's a surprise we could even get this much. These were generated after seeing the movements of those two in real time, so we can't really rely on these data. But, they are all we have at the moment, so it is better than nothing," replied Maya, her brows furrowed in apparent frustration over the situation.

_ZzzzZzztt._

Ichika turned back to the battlefield. "Huh? What was that just now? It sounded like crackling electricity . . ."

It was then that he saw that the IS piloted by the unknown blue-haired lad was freezing up in mid-air, with arcs of electricity crackling around its shield barrier. The limbs shook as they made efforts to move, and a bloodcurdling scream from the boy filled the air.

"aaaaaaAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

"What's wrong with him?!" Rin cried.

"This is bad! The shield energy deployed around his IS for his shield barrier is showing massive energy spikes! There seems to be something wrong with the unit!" Maya replied.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ichika then noticed that the black IS had now recovered from the earlier barrage of attacks and was dashing towards the other IS, complete with its blades drawn out. A red aura coated its claw-like hand, in sync with the blades that now shone bright red. White smoke—steam, Ichika presumed—began to billow from the claw and the blades.

It was ready to assault the mysterious lad.

". . . Tch. Rin, Laura! Move behind the black IS and fire at my signal! Cecilia, I need you to go and take that guy away from the black IS the moment it gets hit with the attack from Rin and Laura! Houki, Charl—I need you guys to watch my back! Right, here I go!"

Yukihira Niigata materialized in Ichika's weapon hand, and he then sped forward towards the black IS.

"""""Ichika, wait up!"""""

"Orimura, you idiot—I just told you earlier to standby! Dammit, you moron!"

_Why . . ._

He pulled his arm back, ready to swing the moment he nears the black IS.

_Why do I . . . want to help him? What do I have to gain from this?_

He drew nearer to the black IS, pouring more shield energy into his thrusters to accelerate further.

_Why is Byakushiki telling me . . ._

Closer still . . .

_. . . to trust that blue-haired boy?_

"Rin, Laura! Do it now!"

* * *

"aaaaaaAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"

All of a sudden, his assault was stopped short when his whole body refused to move. Pain shot through his spine, and his whole body was seared by an intense heat. The mechanized armor that hugged his body began to tighten around him and squeezed, leaving the lad suffocating for air. His eyes darted around, with panic beginning to creep into his mind.

A wave of shock shook him, and he looked forward to see that the Magician had crashed into him, poised and ready with its blades. As the lad looked on, he could not do anything as the blades burned with red plasma, flaring up like raging flames. Steam rose from the blades as the raindrops contacted with its surface.

The Magician swung, and a flurry of flaming slashes started to eat away at the barrier that surrounded the lad. The meter on one of the windows kept flashing as its bar kept getting depleted; the reading of 440 was now constantly dropping, and it was obviously not a good sign.

_Shit . . . ! I can't . . . move . . .!_

"Rin, Laura! Do it now!"

An unfamiliar voice shouted from his side. He craned his head to the right and saw a dark-haired teen covered in white armor with sword in hand rushing towards his direction. His weapon hand was drawn back, about to strike from his charge.

The Magician's attacks were then interrupted when two laser blasts landed on its back, pushing it away from the blue-haired boy. Surprisingly enough, it was able to recover quickly and turned to the direction from where the attack had originated.

The lad then felt himself sink like a rock in the ocean of air, and his whole body was still paralyzed with pain and the constriction of the armor around him. The next thing he heard was a _*whoosh* _from his side, and he found himself being hoisted away by a girl in blue armor, her lengthy blond hair drenched in the rain.

"Ichika, I have him! Now what?!"

"Get him down somewhere! From what Ms. Yamada said, it looks like there's something wrong with his unit! We'll have to get rid of the black IS. For now, guard him, Cecilia!"

The girl nodded, and proceeded to fly away with the blue-haired boy towards the roof of a nearby building.

"Hooooooh!"

Ichika charged towards the black IS, and got a clean hit in on the weakened shield barrier of the foe. He then followed up moving back a distance and firing energy shots using his energy claw, nailing in three additional hits from the front combined with more shots from Rin and Laura.

"I'm glad that hellish target training with Tatenashi finally paid off . . ." Ichika panted. "Now, let's dance, you and I—Hraaaaaaaaahhhh!"

* * *

"Okay, it'll be safer here."

Cecilia slowly set the blue-haired boy still in his IS unit down onto the roof. The lad was still panting and wincing, obviously in pain. Cecilia looked on in worry and anxiety, unsure of what she was supposed to do next, or if do was anything she could in regard to the blue-haired boy's condition.

". . .t a. . . y. . ."

"W-what is it?" Cecilia asked, moving closer to the lad. The boy then sharply turned his head to her, giving her a look of apprehension. He then slowly shook his head, and exerted great effort in trying to talk.

"P-please . . . get . . . away . . . n-now! Nnnnggghhh! G-Go! Now!"

The armor that covered him began glowing. He was down on all fours, shaking from the pain that clearly showed itself on his visage. Electricity crackled around him, making the shield barrier around him reveal itself and leak amounts of shield energy.

"Just what is happe—"

"Ms. Alcott! Please get out of there! The shield energy he's leaking is reacting to the electric surges coming out of his IS! It can cause an explosion!"

Cecilia stepped back in astonishment, surprised at her teacher's revelation. "But what about—"

"Dammit, Alcott! You have no time, get the hell away from there!"

Before Cecilia could accede to Chifuyu's order, a light engulfed the area, and blinded her as she launched away with Blue Tears. The blonde Representative Candidate of England shielded her eyes from the glare; and once it had started dying down, she then shifted her attention back on the rooftop and checked the condition of the lad who might have just blown himself to oblivion.

What her sight beheld slackened her jaw. Sure, the same boy was still there, kneeling down on knee, seemingly unharmed by whatever had happened to his IS.

Only that he wasn't using the same unit.

Steam hissed from the IS, masking the figure in a mist-like covering. A dark blue body suit hugged the blue-haired boy's wiry figure. Small, circular guards covered his shoulders, which looked like thick slabs of steel, and a black belt with a golden skull buckle was wrapped around his waist. The gauntlets covering his forearms resembled the arm and hand bones of a human, and were adorned with black lines resembling that of a circuit. White exoskeleton guarded his legs, with its radius shrinking down like thin, cone-like structures resembling fit boots. Seven, dark blue coffins surrounded the lad, floating all around him and vaguely reminded Cecilia of the bits used by Blue Tears.

Lastly, the lad's face was covered by a white mask that was similar to a skull—black orbs where the eyes were supposed to be, and sharp teeth like projections that looked more like a jagged bear trap attached to a face rather than the maxilla and the jaw.

"What . . . is this . . ."

Cecilia felt goosebumps all over her, and her flight or fight instincts screamed but one word to her:

**Run.**

". . . Vita Brevis."

A long, black scabbard of sorts manifested beside the IS pilot's left side of the hip, presumably a sheathed sword. Its handle was eldritch black and radiated a bone-chilling aura, having no sword guard whatsoever. The IS and its pilot began to hover, and then moved its sight away from the roof and towards its obvious target.

The black IS.

The coffins on its back formed a convex arch, and then spewed shield energy. Suddenly, it all disappeared in a second, and then blew out once more in a more concentrated and pressurized form, pushing the IS at breakneck speed back into the battlefield.

". . . Impossible . . . Double Ignition Boost . . . and it's faster than Byakushiki's top speed . . ."

Cecilia heard her green-haired teacher's tone of utter disbelief over the display, and the blonde herself was stuck frozen in her spot before regaining her nerves and blasting off after the enigma.

_This could be very bad!_

* * *

_Kill it._

The boy held a power-hungry smile behind the mask, all the while laughing maniacally at the surge of power that ran through his nerves.

_Killitkillitkillitkillit._

Closer, closer, and closer he came towards his prey. He placed his hand on his weapon's handle, and began to draw the eerie, blue laser sword that had the width of a katana, but a straight shape of a Western sword.

_Tearitmaulitslashitripitbreakit._

He pulled back his arm, feeding the sword with tremendous amounts of shield energy for a single attack.

_**TearitmaulitslashitripitbreakitkillitkillitKILLIT!**_

The black IS turned around to intercept him.

"Wrong move."

He swung his sword forward.

* * *

**I am thankful for your support.**

**Well, with the enthusiasm you guys all showed about this, even I've gotten hyped up about this. So, now that we've gotten serious about continuing this, I guess I'll start planning out the plotpoints!**

**I've put up a poll for the possible pairing you'd get to see here, although I'll also have a choice for those who do not want Minato swooning a girl off her feet from the IS universe. Cecilia crossed my mind a few times, since I've thought she's one of those girls who haven't gotten much attention (Houki and Charl are up top, followed maybe by Chifuyu [she's got a BIG fandom] and Tatenashi, then comes Laura [Ichika's first kiss!] and Rin [childhood friend, so still a little more edge storywise and character wise], then Kanzashi [the moe level is too damn high!] and Cecilia. I just find it a little disappointing on my part, but meh. That's just me, and the world's full of opinions.**

**There are two polls: 1) Minato being paired up with which girl, and; 2) Harem or not. Pick your choice. Poll No. 1 ends on May 14th, so take a vote! Poll No. 2's gonna be active after the next chapter update, which is around on the 14th or 15th.**

**Poll's up. TNext chapter's in the works. So how'd I do on this one? Review, and thanks for reading. I really am grateful people even drop by this. **


	3. Chapter 3

Chifuyu Orimura tightly clenched her right hand.

This was not because she had felt tense about the predicament concerning the two foreign invaders who had chosen to haul their battle into IS Academy; however, this was a habit of hers that she had developed back when she had become a force to be reckoned with, dubbed as the illustrious "Brynhildr" of the gruesome stage of combat for battle maidens which was the Mondo Grosso tournament. Whenever she saw something her opponent brought in during the fierce battles that tantalized her drive for combat, she'd close her right hand and feel her fingers dig their ends into her palm.

Stoic as her face was, her mind was divided between analyzing the situation and planning the next course of action for her students and focusing on the mysterious male pilot and his magnificent display of warfare prowess.

When they had been able to focus on the faces of both the black IS and its opponent, the boy's battling of the black IS in question had sent a silent shock in her. How could a boy so young be battling as well as this?! His tactical and relentless assault struck her as someone who was no amateur in the battlefield. The uncaring and stoic face of one who conceals his tricks and trade, and eyes that burned with the resolve to slay whoever or whatever obscures his path to victory—

If she were to venture a guess, the young lad could have been a war veteran, a soldier perhaps. These days, age and gender were no longer was a barrier as long as results and application spoke louder for the person.

"Oh my, your habit's showing, Chifuyu; as expected, you and Ichika really are siblings. Is the battle interesting you?" Maya questioned, a smirk plastered on her face.

_*Thwack!*_

"Gaaauuuu!"

Chifuyu fashioned a clipboard from out of nowhere, swinging down and hitting her fellow instructor's head. "If you have time to joke, then you've got time to keep your eyes glued to the monitor. That is, unless you'd rather have a chat with this clipboard here."

"Yes . . . But, jokes aside, what do you think of this current situation? A second male IS pilot we've never seen or heard about, and a mysterious IS even Ms. Tabane Shinonono does not know about—what could it all mean?"

The woman in the business attire shut her eyes in contemplation. Yes, with regards to the recent activities of Phantom Task spiking up in terms of frequency, assumptions can be made—yet, in the end, they were as they were but assumptions. They were mere conjecture that revolved around circumstantial evidence, of which was also shrouded in ambiguity.

"To be honest, I don't have solid answers right now. Anyways, the clear lack of information puts us at a severe advantage, so the next best step is for us to collect the needed data while in mid-battle. And I'm sure you've already noticed, right?"

Maya then switched into a more prominent view the window that eyed the black IS. "Its movements and response patterns, they're similar to that unmanned Golem unit from a while back, right?"

Chifuyu nodded, watching the screen with a grim expression. Thus far, it had been a battle between the two units who had arrived into the Academy without much interference from the students. However, from what had occurred earlier and her reckless little brother's show of bravado when the blue-haired boy's IS started malfunctioning, her nerves tingled with anxiety over the course the battle had now taken.

"Eh? What the . . ."

Upon Maya's surprised reaction, Chifuyu was broken out of her contemplative mantra. The monitor now held the feed of Cecilia Alcott and the blue-haired boy's location atop the roof of one of the buildings, and it was painstakingly obvious with the shield energy detector meters going haywire by the side of the screen that there was something yet again very wrong with the IS of their visitor.

Maya did not lag in her reaction, and quickly reached for the intercom microphone. "Ms. Alcott! Please get out of there! The shield energy he's leaking is reacting to the electric surges coming out of his IS! It can cause an explosion!"

A look of worry and astonishment ran across the face of Blue Tears' pilot. "But, what about—"

Stomping as she quickly made way for the intercom, Chifuyu had pushed away Maya, earning a cry from the glasses-sporting teacher, and took hold of the intercom controls.

"Dammit, Alcott! You have no time, get the hell away from there!"

Chifuyu cursed as the screen was engulfed in white. She knitted her brows in frustration, thinking that her warning was a tad bit too late for the English IS Representative Candidate. Once the flash disappeared, a small sigh of relief escaped her when she saw that Cecilia was unharmed, hovering a distance away from the blue-haired lad and his IS.

Only that his IS was now different.

Ominous was the only thing that could describe it. Its armor hissed with steam while bathed in the rain, and its visage uncannily resembled a disfigured skull of sorts. The bits that surrounded the IS were slightly larger than those of Blue Tears', and oddly were designed like dark coffins.

Chifuyu's eyes hardened at the sight of the mechanized armor that now outfitted the lad's body. She could feel her hair stand on its end at the back of her neck, accompanied by a tingling sensation that crept up her nerves.

_This feels similar to when I was still a Mondo Grosso participant—back when I had opponents who fought with the intent to __**kill**__._

The IS and its pilot then hovered for a moment and spread apart its coffin-like bits, spewing out shield energy that spread around chaotically. It then died out, only to come out once more but this time more condensed and pressurized. It then launched itself forward, with its trajectory leading to the black IS which was now locked in combat with Ichika and the girls.

_Is it using Ignition Boost?!_

". . . Impossible . . . Double Ignition Boost . . . and it's faster than Byakushiki's top speed . . ."

Maya's jaw slackened in shock, with her face painted with awe and uncertainty. Chifuyu straightened up, unsure if the situation had turned for the better or for the worse.

_Double Ignition Boost . . . an action available to the Second Shift of an IS unit . . . has the unit undergone Second Shift?_

She then pulled out her phone from pocket in her coat, and dialed a number she had only prepared in case of an emergency.

"Ready yourself. I'm counting on you for the rest."

"_**Yes, I understand. Well then, I'm off."**_

It never hurt to have a contingency plan—especially when lots of water was involved.

* * *

"Wrong move."

As soon as the Magician turned to face him, the blue-haired boy slashed downwards with his blade diagonally to the left, then brought back up for another slice that formed an x-shape. As the laser sword continued its momentum of moving to the right, the lad then spun it and held it in reverse grip and swung again, with the blade arcing up to the left. His right hand then released the sword, was caught by his left, and proceeded to end the chain of attacks with a last horizontal swipe.

With each strike, the Magician was pushed back in midair, unable to formulate a counterattack to the speedy barrage of slashes that had been chipping away at its shield energy.

As if their surrounding was well aware of the transpiring battle, lightning flitted across the dark cumulonimbus puffs that draped the sky. Rumbling thunder was not far behind, and every time light cascaded down from the heavens, the blue-haired lad's IS looked more and more menacing in the eyes of the spectators.

Ichika Orimura, hovering only but a distance away with Yukihira Niigata still in hand, was utterly surprised by the fact that the boy's IS had now changed drastically from its earlier appearance. There was something utterly unnerving about it apart from its outside appearance, but the black-haired pilot of Byakushiki could not discern what.

In the end, he was back to watching the battle between the two infiltrators.

If the earlier part of the battle showed clear cut precision and display of combat prowess from the blue-haired boy and his IS unit, then this section was mere savagery and carnage. Swing after swing, the now masked boy sliced at the barrier erected by the black IS. No matter how many more arm-like projections emerged from behind it and attempted to attack with its blades, the coffin-like bits that encircled the blue-haired boy would deflect them and guard, almost as if they were reading the opponent's movements and parrying at the right moment.

"Portae Mortis!"

The bits that flew around the blue-haired lad encircled him for a moment, and then each of the coffins expanded open and let out azure shield energy, which then projected from for corners and shaped the coffins into flying daggers of plasma. The bits then spread out, and began flying around the black IS, not giving it a window for escape. The bits then zoned in and embedded themselves onto the barrier of the black IS, finally destroying its last line of defense and draining it of shield energy. The blue-haired lad then dashed in, and swung his sword in one stroke.

And the black IS was split in half, then impaled all over by the seven dagger bits.

Ichika and company all gasped in shock, thinking that the pilot of the black IS had just been brutally murdered.

"That guy . . . he just—!" Rin widened her eyes at the sight of the black IS and its remnants that now began to fall onto the ground.

Houki paled. "To just perform a head-on attack without hesitation in killing . . . just who is this guy?!"

"Everyone, please look closer!"

Their green-haired teacher's voice broke them out of their shock-filled stupor. A window appeared in the sextet's display, zooming in on the remains of the black IS.

All machine and no human—unmanned, just like the Golem unit that had attacked back then during the battle between Byakushiki and Shenlong.

Suddenly, a flash of light enveloped the area, and when Ichika turned to face its origin, all that he saw was the blue-haired boy in the air, minus the IS unit.

He was now in free fall, and at the height of the location, there would be no surviving the crash.

Suddenly, the boy was caught by what had looked like a sheet of water in mid-air, slowly hovering down and then settling the lad down before the water spread back out onto the ground.

"Oh my, this is quite the surprise, even for me. Too bad he's already taken out the enemy—I would have wanted a jab or two."

Ichika turned to the direction of the voice, of which he was familiar to the way it would constantly try to tease or embarrass him wherever, whenever.

"Tatenashi!"

The pilot of the Mysterious Lady hovered with lance in hand, smiling at Ichika. "Now then, what say we take him inside? We don't want anyone getting sick in this weather, after all."

* * *

His recollection of things still drew a blank.

The images that showed, the faces he saw; they still made no sense to him. All that registered in his mind was his name, age, and nationality.

Earlier, he had been fighting with the black humanoid which resembled some odd machinery he's never seen before in his life. Confusion swirled in his mind while he tried to digest what he was able to do earlier. Manifesting machinery as armor, switching between weapons, outmaneuvering the opponent, and adeptly adjusting according to the demands of the situation—

Minus the tech, he wondered briefly if he'd been doing this kind of thing for some time now.

His mind then jumped to the event of him suddenly feeling a rush of power after his experience of great pain. The blue-haired boy shuddered at the recollection of the feeling of the searing burn he felt all over his body. It was something he wasn't looking forward to in the near future if it was to ever happen again.

Aside from that, there had also been the fact that he had experienced a sudden change in the mechanized armor that he had been able to utilize earlier. Though the overwhelming power it had brought was welcome to him for some reason unfathomable, he was put off by the feeling of being possessed while having undergone that shift.

It was as if he wasn't moving his body on his own, and he had become drunk with only carnage and the harvest of doomed souls in the field of war.

He took a look around him, and found that he was in a room of sorts. His uniform was neatly folded and placed on a table, with an MP3 player and a pair of headphones atop it. Beside his clothes lay a silver tray with some onigiri and, from what he could smell, green tea.

". . . ?"

Oddly enough, he had been able to sense the shifting of several feet from outside the room. Listening in closely a little more, he was able to make out a few voices and distinguished females among the group.

Before he could attempt to remove the white sheets that covered him and move off of the bed, the door opened, and the room was then entered by three females and a male.

"How are you feeling?" the black haired boy asked him.

He was unsure whether or not these people were trustworthy, and his instincts warned him to exercise caution even in his speech. After a slight hesitation to answer, his lips parted to converse with the people who were with him.

". . . I'm fine."

The black haired boy in a white uniform of sorts then grinned slightly, and sat down after nodding and saying "Ah, is that so?" The bluenette resting on the bed was then approached by one of the females, a black haired one with features similar to the boy seated near him. Her demeanor carried some kind of regal air, and her face showed naught but calm.

"We'll be straight with you: we'd like to know who you are, what had happened, and why you're able to pilot an IS unit." Her tone was not cold; rather, it was just that she seemed like a person who never beat around the bush.

"IS . . . unit? What's that?"

The way he phrased his question made it sound like he wasn't from this era.

All around him, shocked stares pierced every angle of his body, and in all honesty, it made the bluenette more and more uneasy. "You seriously don't know . . . what an IS is?" the black-haired lad asked, having stood from his seat. The bluenette shook his head.

"It's short for Infinite Stratos. It's a sort of exoskeleton developed with various types of uses, ranging from simple travel to extreme combat. That's the gist of that, I guess."

The black-haired boy then began furthering the topic surrounding the IS, or the Infinite Stratos—from the inception of its modern design due to the genius that was Tabane Shinonono, the Alaska Treaty, up until the White Knight Incident, the Mondo Grosso, and to where we were now in the present. His explanation was devoid of unnecessary comments and details that it had been quite easy for the bluenette to process in his still dizzy mind. If that was it, then what he had used earlier could very have been the IS unit the black-haired boy was talking about.

"Though you've now gotten the short version of what the Infinite Stratos is, this is still worse than we thought," said the third girl with sky blue hair and uniform similar to the black-haired male. Her right hand held with her a folded blue fan, and her red eyes had the glint of some sort of impishness and ingenuity.

"What do you mean by that?" the bluenette queried. Clearing her throat, woman sporting glasses and possessing green hair face the recovering bluenette and answered the question.

"We've performed various health scans on you while you were out cold to check on your physical condition and gather data on your aptitude. It has been roughly an hour and a half since we've brought you in, too. Your brain scans have shown some aftermath likely caused by trauma, so amnesia was the most we could narrow down the effect to as the scans did not show anything life-threatening."

The lad nodded. There was no other reason close enough to describe the sorry state he was in right now concerning his mess of a brain.

_I wonder . . .what happened before I got here . . ._

"Anyway," the black-haired, stern-faced woman interrupted his thoughts, "we have no other option for the meantime but to have you here with us. Though we have no idea if you are hostile or not, your existence as the second male IS pilot will be given reported to the Japanese government."

The bluenette nodded, accepting the logic behind the woman's order. Amnesiac or not, he had done battle within the grounds of this place and at the moment was considered neither friend nor foe by the people in this place. Chances were that he'd be kept around for a long period of time for the purposes of finding out who he really was and with which organization he was affiliated with.

Even the lad wanted to know. Though the ones surrounding him as of now were strangers and maybe even possible enemies who could skin him alive at a single mistake, this was his chance to figure out the identity his mind could not reveal to him and the background of the life he had had to live before.

". . . I don't have much of a choice. I'll be in your care for the time being."

The atmosphere in the room lightened a little. "Well then, before we leave, do you really not remember anything personal? Even your name?" asked the blue-haired girl, holding her opened fan to hide the lower half of her face.

". . . Minato Arisato, 17. That's all."

"Oh? Then, as you would be staying a while here, it would be better for some familiarity—over there," she gestured to the black-haired boy, "is Ichika Orimura, a male IS pilot such as yourself; that madam with the glasses," Minato turned to the said woman, who then flashed him a grin of courtesy, "is Ms. Maya Yamada, a faculty member and teacher; and then there's Ms. Chifuyu Orimura, another instructor alongside Ms. Yamada." Minato then turned his attention to the woman in the business attire, still analyzing him with her sharp stare that felt like a blade stabbing him through the chest.

Unease creeping up his guts, Minato then turned to the girl with the fan. "And you? What might your name be?" The girl folded the fan, and smiled. Minato could see the mischievous glint in those ruby orbs of hers.

"Tatenashi Sarashiki, student council president of IS Academy. We're looking forward to your stay here, Mr. Arisato—no matter how temporary it may be."

* * *

**Hey guys.**

**So, I said I was gonna upload on the 14th, and I apologize for the one-day delay. There was a scheduled blackout in our neighborhood, and I didn't really get wind of it. Even if it was announced. This chapter may be anticlimactic, but hey—even the first Persona 3 full moon with the Magician ended up anticlimactically with Minato losing consciousness after Thanatos epically kicks the Magician's ass and waking up to Yukari's revelations. That's just me talking, though. This took four revisions, and I'm still a little dissatisfied with this one. But, here we are.**

**I would like to thank the current supporters of the fic. I didn't really expect this many to respond so soon, and you guys have just defied my expectations. Like Ichika thought last chapter—unreal.**

**I may be unable to respond to all the reviews, so for those with questions, then the most I could advise is patience—all will come in due time. Or PMs could work too.**

**Also, a little clarification: there are those of you who's been saying things like 'leave Minato alone and don't pair him up', or 'do not break up the Ichika harem because you need to give to Ichika what belongs to Ichika'. If you didn't read the A/N last chapter, I said that I would be posting polls so that it would be fair to everyone to decide whether or not we get a pairing, and if it's going to be harem or not. Even I have my doubts to be honest, which was why I asked a favor from you guys and had put up a poll. Please bear with me.**

**First poll's done, which was about the main pairing. And with the results (cue drumroll and dramatic music), CHIFUYU ORIMURA won by a freaking landslide. Damn. Well, goes to show that a lot of people believe in the powers of the Pimpnato. Challenge accepted, ladies and gents! Though, don't expect the bits of the romance to start early.**

**Second poll's up, which will decide if we are to have a harem or not—so please take your time and cast a vote! I'll be closing the poll down on the 20th or the 21st, which will be accompanied by the next chapter.**

**Also, I'm having trouble with a few ideas for some stuff. People who'd like to pitch in and leave a penny for thought are welcome. Even I wanna make friends here, and I would like to also have a share of ideas with other people who could inspire me and vice versa.**

**So, how'd I do? Leave a review. Don't like it? Then don't read. Poll's up, take a vote. Until next chapter.**


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER: **I do not own IS nor do I own Persona 3. All rights go to their respective owners and creators.

* * *

It was worse than he had imagined.

Sure, Minato had an idea of what a classroom filled with nothing but females would look like as he was briefed to the fact earlier while still recovering a bit from his battle with the black IS he had known as "The Magician".

Sure, he was prepared for having to blend in with the students even if he were of the opposite sex. He could live with that, something at the back of his mind whispered to him.

_Well, shit._

Standing by the platform from where the teacher would usually impart knowledge regarding the Infinite Stratos and whatnot, he could feel the predatory glare of more than 30 female students digging into every inch of his body. Sweeping a gaze over the group, he could've sworn some of them were practically drooling, and their eyes seemed to have this blood-red color that stood out in bright daylight. The situation was akin to throwing a piece of meat into a den of hungry lions, the lad surmised.

Try guessing who that piece of meat was.

"Alright, like I said, he'll be a new transferee here at IS Academy. He's in the same situation as Ichika Orimura of the first years, so you all know what that means."

Chifuyu stood by the teacher's desk, and her posture alone oozed demand for attention. The IS instructor, who was supposed to be handling the SHR of Ichika's class, had volunteered to the administration to also include in her schedule the managing of Minato's class.

The bluenette knew that this was all for surveillance purposes, as it still wasn't clear as to what was his true affiliation and origin. The Japanese government was more than happy to receive another "anomaly" and have him study under IS Academy, but for the moment all the rudimentary knowledge about the lad had been . . . doctored with the help of a certain individual. Since there were records pertaining to Minato's date of birth, bloodline, and general existence, said individual volunteered to "manage" the problem regarding his supposed non-existence. And by the way he read the said individual's eyes that time back at the infirmary; he could tell that she had been up to something.

Not to mention, said individual had been sitting in front of him all this time.

Her fan was placed beside her desk, and her face had this certain cat-like theme to it in the sense that she wore mischief, enjoyment, and curiosity on her face. Ruby orbs complimented the sky blue locks atop her, and her lips were curved into sly yet seductive kind of smile.

Though Minato was 17, Tatenashi Sarashiki had insisted that he be a student in her class, since if he were to be with the third years, he would barely recognize anyone there. He had to admit, the logic was sound, but deep down it boiled down again to surveillance.

He had gladly accepted the current situation; albeit with a grain of salt. Finding out that he was an amnesiac and his non-existent situation had put some clouds of ambiguity gathering by the back of his mind. Who was he? Where did he come from? Why was he here? Why did he only remember his name and age? All the questions gave him a headache. Fortunately, Tatenashi had been the kinder individual again, and offered him the opportunity of allowing him to dig up here and there about his identity while within the walls of the Academy under hers and Chifuyu's eyes.

Of course, he accepted the chance. He had nowhere to go right now, and possibly had no one to ask for help—the nearest thing to aid was the offers he was presented at the Academy.

His eyes darted and focused on Tatenashi; playful, scarlet eyes meeting stern, obsidian orbs of steel. There was a quality in her expression that the lad felt familiar, but wasn't even nearing the tip of his tongue. If one were to take the idiom further, he would say the answer was still by his throat. And it was quite stuck, without the chance of even reaching his tongue.

"Go on. Introduce yourself." He nodded to Chifuyu, and moved towards the middle of the platform. Though some sort of holographic panel had appeared behind him and was now displayed on the blackboard-eqsue monitor, he still went on with the formalities.

"My name is Minato Arisato. I will be in your care from today onwards. I hope to get along well with you all."

. . .

_Cue the screaming fangirls in a wasteland that has seen no male._

"_**KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"**_

_There we go._

"OH MY GOD! WE'VE GOT A HOTTIE IN OUR ROOM!"

"H-he's got a slender body that's totally not for guys!"

"His voice gets me hot and bothered!"

"B-bishounen . . . guehehehehehehe!_*drools*_"

"Is he into yaoi?! Is he?! God, let him make out with Ichika! Kyaaaaaa!"

Minato palmed at the last bit, and swallowed down the bile that wanted out of his system. Shivers ran down his spine as he thought of the horrors that he had just unleashed out of Pandora's Box. A yell from near him indicated that Chifuyu had gotten annoyed at the display.

"Quiet!"

. . . . .

"Alright, for the rest of the morning, we'll be having a review about the types of Equalizer Packages and the tips and tricks for CQC and LRC. Arisato, take the empty seat beside Sarashiki. We'll be starting the lesson. No chitchats, am I clear?"

"_**YES MA'AM!"**_

"Good. Now, Equalizer Packages differ from unit to unit depending on their compatibility . . ."

The day seemed to have dragged on. Even if the lesson had been captivating due to his lack of knowledge regarding the Infinite Stratos, Minato had found himself drowsier and drowsier somewhere in the middle of the lecture. The sleepiness had been brought by his constant bouts of waking up in the middle of the night and getting antsy about his whole ordeal and trying to even think of the possibilities that likely may have occurred before he gained consciousness during the day he fought the black IS.

He tried fighting the urge to take a nap while Chifuyu taught, as he'd already heard rumors about the terrors Ichika had faced one time he fell asleep under the watchful eye of his teacher/older sister. Nevertheless, the boy had found himself succumbing to the sweet world of dreamland, and finally began snoozing on his desk.

* * *

_Where . . . is this place?_

The dark sky was littered with twinkling gems, and a few tufts of cumulus littered the nightscape. A cool, evening breeze blew by Minato, gently caressing him with its movement.

The lad switched his gaze left and right, and found that he was standing on some sort of bridge that seemed to have span forever. Car and other vehicle wreckages were present all around him, and the body of water visible from the bridge strangely resembled that of blood. His surrounding was lit by an eerie emerald hue, and the large yellow moon above in its full glory seemed larger than what he'd normally see of the Earth's natural satellite.

"You still don't remember, right?"

Minato turned, and found that behind him stood an auburn-haired girl, looking to be a teenager. Lush, red eyes lightened up from her pale complexion and brought a kind of energetic vibe from the girl. Her hair was tied in a high ponytail, with silver barrettes clipped on by the side to her left that oddly looked like the Roman numerals for the number 22.

Her outfit consisted of a red scarf tied around her neck, with her top outfitted with a tangerine sweater. Her look was completed by a red plaid skirt, black leggings, and boots the similar shade of red that her skirt was.

The girl was a few inches shorter than Minato. She then looked at the still confused lad, chuckling at him good-naturedly.

"You know, we're not supposed to meet yet."

Minato blinked. "What . . . do you mean? Who are you exactly?" The girl did nothing but continue smiling at him. For some odd reason, he could sense faint . . . affection from the lass that was in front of him.

"I can't tell you . . . yet. You'll know soon enough. In the meantime, make friends okay? I don't want you getting lonely—no one deserves to be alone forever, after all."

Before the bluenette could ask anything else, the girl waved at him goodbye and the scenery began to melt into the white light that suddenly engulfed everything. Though questions swirled in his mind, the lad failed to find any kind of answer from the disappearing place.

* * *

_*Thwack!*_

_*Thwack!*_

_*Thwack!*_

"Why won't you . . ."

_*Thwack!*_

_*Thwack!*_

". . . wake up?!"

Chifuyu Orimura was irked.

_*Thwack!*_

She had lost count already at how many times she'd struck Minato Arisato's head in an attempt to violently wake the lad from his deep slumber while in class; keyword being "violently".

_*Thwack!*_

For some reason, the lad wouldn't wake even if hit by her signature move reserved in class for the inappropriate displays of misconduct. It seemed that her . . . power was clearly not yet enough for this boy.

_*Thwack!*_

And that was pissing her off, goddamit!

". . . Sarashiki."

Minato's neighbor turned to Chifuyu, while her lips curved into a playful smile. "Oh, do you perhaps need _**that**_ textbook distributed for assigned reading?"

". . . Yes, that thick book. Allow me to borrow your copy for a moment."

The textbook was the size of a 12-inch laptop, with its thickness supplied with by its more than one thousand pages of IS history, design, use, types, controls, and et cetera. It was usually given to students upon their entrance to the Academy so as to acclimate themselves with the basics and already possess a preliminary grasp of an IS unit. And now, said book was in the possession of a certain teacher who had found a way to utilize the book for other . . . meaningful purposes, to say the least.

Like waking up a goddamn stubborn student, for example!

"Wake up, you idiot! Class is still in session!" Chifuyu exclaimed, as she brought down the lethal weapon to bring about divine punishment upon the insolent.

_*Crash!*_

Minato Arisato's desk had been broken into two. Apparently, the lad had leapt away from the last second before the blunt objected connected with his cranium. He now stood a few feet away, completely positioned in a battle-ready stance.

"Hoho. Finally awake, aren't we?" Chifuyu slowly spoke, giving emphasis on each word that sent chills down the spines of the rest of the student body within the classroom. Minato carefully eyed the book in her hand, and calmly assessed the situation.

_Oh yeah, I fell asleep._

Minato then stood up properly and abandoned his fighting stance that seemed to have come forth reflexively (although he had no idea how). He rubbed the back of his head, and then walked towards the still fuming teacher.

Standing short of a few steps from Chifuyu, Minato bowed in front of her much to her and the class's surprise.

"I'm sorry for my misconduct."

". . ."

His apology was greeted by silence. Minato did not make any other move and remained bowing. He could feel the stares of the many students around him, and out of the corner of an open right eye, he spotted Tatenashi giving him a look of curiosity and . . . was that enjoyment?

After what seemed like eternities of stillness, Chifuyu sighed and answered the lad. ". . . This doesn't mean you're off the hook, got it Arisato? You get detention after classes. Report to Ms. Yamada later."

"Yes, Ms. Orimura."

"I'm not done, Arisato."

_***THWACK!***_

Before collapsing and losing consciousness from the strike, Minato briefly wondered if he had just heard the symphony of the death of a thousand brain cells.

Or maybe it was just the alarm bell for lunch.

* * *

**And that was a short chapter to start up Minato's new life at IS Academy. Short, yes, because I just wanted to open up for the nearing events.**

**The poll will be closed on the 24th, which is my target date for the next update. Keep voting until then, dear readers!**

**And for a short spoiler . . . Social Links will be back next chapter! And it won't be your usual Social Link. I've done a lot of tweaking with how I'll import Persona 3 elements and integrate them into the IS-verse, so keep on reading and waiting for what comes next!**

**Also, a shoutout to these guys:**

**Angel of light darkness, Law77, Nunas The No Name, and evildude66.**

**Thanks for dropping a line and giving some ideas here and there! I appreciate the effort and time you have given.**

**I'm also happy about the hype with the fic, and I'm glad you guys are enjoying this as much as I am.**

**So, how'd I do? Read, review, and feel free to drop some ideas in my inbox. Until then guys. See you next chapter, which I believe will be longer.**


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